Claire Holland: Bristol search fails to uncover significant evidence

  • Published
Claire HollandImage source, Police Handout
Image caption,

Police said that recent searches for Claire Holland did not create any additional evidence

Searches for a woman missing since 2012 have failed to uncover anything "significant", police have said.

Claire Holland was last seen leaving Seamus O'Donnell's pub in St Nicholas Street, Bristol, at around 23:15 BST on Wednesday 6 June that year.

Earlier this month Avon and Somerset Police launched a "targeted and intelligence-led search" to trace her.

On Wednesday Det Insp Darren Hannant said that "nothing significant" had been found.

He added that this stage of the investigation had now "concluded".

"While nothing significant was found in these searches, we had a good response to the renewed public appeal for information" for the mother-of-four, who was 32 when she vanished, he added.

'Need answers'

Officers would be "following up all new lines of enquiry as we continue to work towards finding out what happened to Claire," he continued.

"We firmly believe there are people out there who know what happened to Claire and I would urge them to do the right thing by her family, and come forward now."

Image source, Avon and Somerset Police
Image caption,

Claire Holland was caught on CCTV shortly before she disappeared

Det Insp Hannant previously said police had reason to believe her disappearance was "linked to a crime".

He said: "We don't have Claire, we don't have a body, so we're not sure that she's dead but that's what I strongly suspect, that it is a murder inquiry."

Her sister Sarah Holland previously said that her children "need answers" about what happened to their mother, from Lawrence Weston.

Image caption,

Police searched Castle Park in Bristol as part of the inquiry

Police have said Miss Holland's disappearance was first treated as suspicious in 2019.

They later arrested a 37-year-old man on suspicion of her murder. The man, now 39, remains released under investigation.

The force is continuing its witness appeal and is specifically asking people who fall into the following categories to contact it:

• Anyone who was in the Seamus O'Donnell's pub on Wednesday 6 June, 2012 and has not yet spoken to officers

• Anyone heading into Bristol city centre from the direction of St Nicholas Street after 23:00

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.